India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India had made a strong pitch for membership of four exclusive nuclear clubs hoping that it would help strengthen its export control systems and maintain highest international standards of its nuclear program.
"India has never been a source of proliferation of sensitive technologies and we are determined to further strengthen our export control systems to keep them on par with the highest international standards." he said while addressing the second Nuclear Security Summit in the South Korean capital Seoul.
Singh said India had already adhered to the guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).
"As a like-minded country with the ability and willingness to promote global non-proliferation objectives, we believe that the next logical step is India's membership of the four export control regimes," he said.
India is keen for membership of the NSG, MTCR, Wassenaar Arrangement and the Australia Group.
At the same time, Singh said an agreed multilateral framework involving all states possessing nuclear weapons was necessary to attain the goal of a nuclear weapons free world. This should include measures to reduce nuclear dangers by reducing the salience of nuclear weapons in security doctrines and by increasing universal restraints on the first use of nuclear weapons.
The Prime Minster also announced a contribution of $1 million to the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Nuclear Security Fund for the year 2012-13, adding that India was also expanding its technical assistance to developing countries, including by providing its indigenously-developed Cobalt teletherapy machines - Bhabhatrons - for cancer treatment.
On India's nuclear program, Singh said comprehensive reviews of nuclear safety measures were undertaken at its nuclear facilities. "India has invited the Operational Safety Review Teams of the IAEA to assist in its own safety reviews and audit," he said.
Nuclear safety evaluations were being put in the public domain to enhance transparency and boost public confidence, Singh said, adding that India was also in the process of setting up a statutory, independent and autonomous Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority.
He said India was determined that its expanded nuclear power program would follow the highest standards of nuclear safety and security, whose synergy was essential to restore public faith in nuclear energy, especially after the tragic events at Fukushima.
He said the Global Center for Nuclear Energy Partnership, which India had announced at the Washington Summit in 2010, was making good progress and the physical infrastructure for the Center was being set up.
"We have commenced 'off-campus' courses. Such courses will be held more frequently in the future," he said, adding documents had been signed for cooperation on the Global Center with the U.S., Russia, France and the IAEA.
India will participate in IAEA's 2013 international coordinating conference of various nuclear security activities, including the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism and the Global Partnership, he said.
Singh said that nuclear terrorism would remain a potent threat as long as there were terrorists seeking to gain access to nuclear material and technologies for malicious purposes. "India is acutely conscious of this threat," he said, adding that an India-piloted resolution on measures to deny terrorists access to weapons of mass destruction had been adopted since 2002.
The Prime Minister said India backed the extension of the U.N. Security Council resolution 1540 and the work of its Committee.
"India is party to the main international legal instruments on nuclear security - the Convention on Physical Protection and its 2005 amendment, as well as the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism. We support the universalisation of these instruments," he said.
The Prime Minister also noted that India had contributed actively to the Nuclear Security Summit process, including hosting a Sherpa meeting in New Delhi in January this year.
Singh reiterated India's commitment to strengthen and improve further the effectiveness of its nuclear safety and security systems and make a significant contribution to the enhancement of the global nuclear securing architecture.
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